


Names

by Solshine



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: 221B Ficlet, 221b, Gen, Post Reichenbach, Reichenangst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-01
Updated: 2012-02-01
Packaged: 2017-10-30 11:43:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 221
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/331378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solshine/pseuds/Solshine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John and Sherlock use each other's names a lot. 221B.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Names

For people living alone together, John’s noticed, they say each other’s names quite a bit. Even when there’s nobody else they could be talking to, even in the middle of a conversation between just them, it’s always peppered with “Sherlocks” and “Johns.” To get attention, make a point. They use names like punctuation.

“John, you’ve been cleaning again. I had those papers exactly where I wanted them!”

“In the fireplace, Sherlock?”

“Yes, in the fireplace! I have a system!”

Mrs. Hudson’s seldom named this way. Mycroft is, occasionally, though Sherlock makes it into an insult. Lestrade almost never. It’s a them thing, it seems, this ping-ponging of names back and forth. Sherlock. John. Sherlock. John. 

“No, Sherlock, I’m not holding that still for you. I’ve had my hands inside abdominal cavities and I would not touch that, whatever it is.”

“Oh get over here, John. I’ve got you gloves and it’s only a second.”

When John comes back to Baker Street to get his things after the funeral he stands a few minutes in the middle of the flat, staring at nothing.

“Sherlock,” he says.

Quiet. An imbalance of “Sherlocks” to “Johns.” It feels like throwing a ball in the air and waiting forever for it to come down. Bad slapstick.

John goes upstairs to his room to start packing boxes.


End file.
